


All's Fair

by sevenofspade



Category: Hellenistic Religion & Lore
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 06:10:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5446097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenofspade/pseuds/sevenofspade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ares and his sister have a complicated relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All's Fair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anndy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anndy/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this!

"Ares," Athena said. She was wearing full battle dress, with the spear and the _shield_ and, oh joy, the owl was there too.

"That's my name," he said. "Don't wear it out." But he sat up and called sword and shield to his side. He gave the armour he was wearing a quick polish, while he was at it, just because he knew she hated when he did that.

"About your champion," she started.

"Isn't he great?" Ares smiled, or at least he bared his teeth at her.

"Yes," Athena said. "That's why he's mine."

Ares got to his feet. "No. He's not. You said it yourself, he's _mine_."

"You have not claimed him yet," she said. She stared him straight in the eyes; they were of a height and he knew she resented that as much as he did.

"Neither," he said, "have you."

She snorted -- although of course she would deny having done such a thing if he brought it up -- and said, "I thought it was rather obvious that he was mine."

"If anything, it's obvious he's mine," Ares said.

"He's a tactical genius," Athena said. She gestured vaguely with her spear.

"And that means he can't be mine?"

Athena twitched like she wanted to say yes, but all she said was, "Is that your best counterclaim?"

"I don't need a counterclaim," Ares said. "You do."

"I do not."

"Claimed him first, didn't I?"

"Debateable."

"Not really, no." 

"I am debating it. Therefore it is, by definition, debateable." 

Ares spun on his heel and gestured at the sky. "If I say the sky is green that does not make it debateable that it is blue."

"I believe Father could make the sky green if he so desired," Athena said. Ares really, really wanted to punch the smug smile off her face.

But then that was how he always felt around Athena, ever since she'd burst fully-formed from Zeus' head and laid claim to half his domain. Nobody had bothered asking Ares how he felt about it; nobody ever did.

You'd think being Zeus and Hera's only legitimate child would give him some measure of respect, but no. At best it made him invisible; at worst it made him a threat.

"Not even remotely the point!" Ares waved it away.

Athena raised an eyebrow.

"None of this changes the fact that you're trying to poach my champion," Ares said.

"He is not your champion," Athena said again, as though repetition would make it true.

And now Ares knows he's got her. "I sent you a memo."

"You did no such thing," she replied. She seemed paler.

"I did."

"You never send memos!"

"Just because you never read them --" Ares suspected Athena of reading every single memo, even the ones not addressed to her "-- doesn't mean I don't write them."

"Show me." Calling the grey of Athena's eyes 'stormy' would have been both cliché and a poor approximation of what they actually looked like.

"Sure." He smiled his favourite -- and her least favourite -- kind of grin and showed her exactly what she'd ask for.

Her face twisted. "This changes nothing. You haven't claimed him officially, so he's not your champion."

He schooled his features, despite his instinctual need to gape at her like a fish. He couldn't believe she was rules-lawyering him, but of course she was. She was Athena. It would probably have been more surprising if she hadn't, but still. Basest kind of rules-lawyering. He was almost disappointed in her.

"He's mine." He snarled.

"No." She slammed the butt of her spear into the ground.

"Yes."

"Make your case." The owl rolled its eyes and flew off. Good riddance.

"He leads from the front," Ares said.

"Everyone leads from the front," Athena said, a very broad generalisation.

Ares raised an eyebrow at her. It was a fight he was surprised she wanted to fight. "He's always in the thick of the battle and when he got wounded at Saguntum he kept going."

"Crossing the Alps is a stroke of genius," Athena said. "Of _strategic_ genius."

"Have you considered the courage it takes to do such a thing? The force of will and leadership it takes to convince an army to cross the Alps in winter?" Ares asked. Athena's face told him she had, so he pressed on. "Those are _my_ qualities."

They'd been his before she came along and they were still his, now that she'd taken half of what had been his.

"Nevertheless," Athena said, "you did not claim Hannibal Barca as your champion."

"Neither," Ares said, "did you. Are we to have this entire conversation all over again?" He would not put it past her.

She shook her head. "No. That won't be necessary."

"Damn right it won't," said a new voice.

Ares threw a glance in the direction of the voice, mostly to confirm who it was. It was indeed Tanith, who was not even bothering to take human form.

"You two fuckers seem to have forgotten the main reason neither of you can claim Hannibal as your champion." She paused, because Tanith loved dramatics. "Because he's _mine_."

"Fuck _off_ , Tanith," Ares said and shoved her out.

She let herself be pushed out. Her laugh kept ringing long after she was done.

Ares looked at Athena. Athena looked at Ares.

The moment stretched on, then, both at once, they acted. It wasn't that they'd called a truce, nothing that simple, but for now their goals aligned.

They watched the battle of Ticinus unfold.

"This one," Ares said. He pointed at the boy on the horse, saving his wounded father.

Athena reached out and touched the top of his head, the tip of her finger invisible to mortals and the size of the boy's upper body. Now they both could see the intricate machinery of the boy's brain.

A great general in the making, the boy was.

Yes.

A champion with both their attributes -- who were all Ares' attributes, anyway --, to pit against Tanith's. What a fine game this would be.


End file.
